


And the world grew cold

by Felidae5



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 11:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19375399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felidae5/pseuds/Felidae5
Summary: It is, what it must be





	And the world grew cold

_And the world grew cold_

Kaiba had never thought, that _he_ was the one to bring down the sun.  
But here he was, gasping, fighting for air, eyes stinging with unshed, frozen tears, as he watched all that is warm and good and light being sucked into the dimensional portal, the abyss in _his_ chest.  
How could he not have seen.  
How could he have failed to recognize the signs.  
How could he have turned two deaf ears, two blind eyes, on what Ishizu, Crawford, Atemu, everybody including _him_ had told Kaiba about him?  
It was too late, now.  
Had been too late, then.  
But he could have avoided it, not that it happened, because happening it must, for all things one day come to an end, but he could have prolongued the wait.  
Stalled the process.  
Bided just a little more time, a few more winks of eternity's lids, to keep all things safe.  
Instead, he had wasted it, wasted it on the false honour and fame of man.  
Wasted it to fodder his pride, his self-esteem, his greed.  
Wasted it, because it could not be contained and counted and guilded and worn and hung on display for the world to marvel at.  
Wasted it, because he had been taught, been forced, been manipulated to think it little but for one single twig of the enormous mulbery tree not only mankind, but life itself, sang of in countless, endless, unfathomable, inconceivable ways, tones, sounds, tongues and motions.  
He had seen it, lost it, been given chance upon chance to retrieve, reclaim it, masked in one of its many lesser forms, but he had refused.  
And not only refused, but belittled, mocked, denied and sneered at it, where he should have been grateful and happy and humbled.  
Now, all that remained were icy breaths of wind, harsh, dim grey light that seemed to be merely the absence of darkness, a roaring, deafening silence, as if he stood inside a waterfall made of sound's corpse; dead shards of sonic waves and mute remnants of echoes long forgotten.  
His heart clenched; he lurched forward, arms wrapped protectively around himself, keeping his eyes downcast, for not to witness the carnage, the slaughter before him.  
And into this maelstrom of nothing, this infinity of despair, a voice, that was not a voice but a choir, an onslaught of a thousand and billion and one dying souls, manifested itself with a smile, that smile, that one, golden, warm smile he had so often sought to escape, tried to extinguish, fought to uproot, for it reminded him of all he wasn't and hadn't and didn't and couldn't and wouldn't and might never be, that smile encased the final remains of what was bright and light and warm and sweet and joy and love, so, so much love, encased it, clasped, trapped, engulfed it in its fangs and whispered,  
"I was your last chance, Seto. A gift, a guiding hand from the gods you renounced. You denied me, denied what could have saved you and so designed your own demise. I must leave now, and I shall take with me all that is important in the world."  
With that, Jounouchi Katsuya drew in one final breath, stepping through the portal that wasn't there, was never and would never and could never be there.

And the world grew cold.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°


End file.
